Shower curtain rod clothes rack



March 1962 D. M. DALEY 3,025,969

SHOWER CURTAIN ROD CLOTHES RACK Filed Jan. 19, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Dorothy M. Daley er ATTORNEY March 20, 1962 D. M. DALEY 3,025,969

SHOWER CURTAIN ROD CLOTHES RACK Filed Jan. 19, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Dorofh y M. Daley her ATTORNEY Filed Jan. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 3,393 4 Claims. (Cl. 211-86) This invention relates to a shower curtain rod accessory for shower baths and, more particularly, to an accessory which is suitable as a clothes hanger and which is readily attachable to an existing conventional shower curtain rod.

Oftentimes in homes, and especially in apartments and hotels, personal items. such as nylon stockings, panties, girdles, drip-dry clothes etc. are washed by women in the bathroom and hung there to dry because of the inconvenience of taking such items to a laundry or a laundry room in the basement. In the past, these items have been hung to dry on the conventional towel racks or perhaps draped on the shower curtain rod. However, the outstanding disadvantage is that clothes so supported drip water onto the fioor, because in the latter instance, the curtain rod is supported over the front edge of the bathtub.

Attempts have been made to solve this problem by devising clothes racks which are supported directly by the tub so that the clothes will drip into the tub. However, such racks have never been adopted or widedly used because of their outstanding disadvantages of being always in sight or in the way and of being rather complicated and bulky in construction, presenting an unsightly appearance, also because it is not possible to take a bath without removing the clothes hanger rack from the tub.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel clothes hanger rack which is constructed as an attachment for existing shower bath curtain rods and which will enable the hanging and drying of wet clothes in a manner so as to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages of prior devices.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a clothes hanging accessory which is detachably mounted on an existing shower curtain rod in a manner so as to be suspended overhead of the bather with sufficient head clearance so that it need not be removed while taking a shower bath, and which is substantially concealed from view even when the shower curtain is open.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a clothes hanging accessory for easy attachment to an existing shower curtain rod in a manner so as not to require marring of the wall with screws and other fasteners and which is adjustable in width so as to be supported solely by gravity and friction on rear walls having different spacings from the shower curtain rod, and which may be removed simply by lifting the attachment, and which accessory is useful for many other purposes, such as for hanging wet coats, snowsuits, raincoats and the like, as well as to serve as an additional clothes closet in cases of emergencies, such as when giving parties and the like, yet at which times clothes are completely concealed from view by drawing the shower curtain, therefore do not present any unsightly appearance to guests.

A further object of my invention is to provide a shower curtain rod accessory which may be made in the form of a knockdown assembly to facilitate shipping and which can be easily assembled by any home owner. also which is made of simple and inexpensive parts which blend with the construction of an existing shower curtain rod.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shower curtain rod accessory for supporting clothes and embodying the principles of my invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along lines II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, cross-section, fragmentary view of dthe forward end portion of rod 6 shown in FIGS. 1 an 2.;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary cross-sectional view showing how the ends of rod 5 are connected to the crossbrace rods 6; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a modification of my invention as applied to a shower curtain rod supported on the curtain rod and one side wall instead of two side walls as shown in FIG. 1.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a conventional shower curtain rod of hollow tubular construction which may be made of aluminum or steel coated with chromium, or other materials and which has end fittings 4 which are attached directly to two opposing side walls 2 and 3. This forms a conventional, permanent construction. The shower curtain (not shown) is supported on rod 1 by means of hooks attached to the top edge of the curtain in a well known manner. T denotes a tub.

The clothes hanging rod and frame embodying my invention, and which is attachable as an accessory to shower curtain rod 1, is shown as comprising essentially tubular rods 5 and 6. These rods may be either integrally Welded or otherwise integrally secured to rod 6 or, better still, they are detachably secured to the shower curtain rod 1 so that the assembly may be of the knockdown type so that it may be packed in small cartons to reduce shipping costs. Rod 5 may be made of the same tubular material as curtain rod 1, that is, of aluminum or steel coated with chromium, or perhaps may be made of fiber glass-reinforced plastic or any other suitable material which is suificiently strong to support clothes.

Rods 6 serve as cross-brace rods and are preferably bent at 6b adjacent their forward end portions 6a, as shown more clearly in FIG. 2, presenting an angle of approximately 30 with the main portion of the rod 6 through a radius of about 8 inches so as to present a clearance in vertical height of at least 6 feet 6 inches at the center to enable persons of average height to take a shower bath without the necessity of removing the clothes hanger frame 6, 5. Of course, the bend may be made even greater and the rod 6 may be made even greater and the rod 6 may be curved upwardly even to a greater extent, perhaps throughout its entire length to give even more head clearance, if desired.

In order to make the shower curtain rod accessory entirely detachable and attachable without marring the walls, I prefer to arcuately notch the end portions thereof. This may be done by the use of end plugs 11 which are curved at the ends 7 thereof along a radius so as to accurately fit the curvature of curtain rod 1, as shown more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3. Thus the end portions of rod 6 may be supported on the curtain rod 1. simply by resting the end portions or plugs 11 thereon, without the necessity of applying fastening means for attaching rods 6 to rod 1. This is true partly because of the inclination of the forward end portion 6a extending from bends 6b of cross braces 6 (see FIG. 2) and the method of support thereof against the rear wall 8, namely, by means of cylindrical rod extensions 9 which are prefererably in the form of rubber or plastic bumpers, simulating the shape of handle bars of a bicycle and which are telescoped onto the rear end portions of cross brace rods 6 so as to be extensible to enable the frame to fit any spacing between the rear wall 8 and the existing, permanently mounted curtain rod 1. Of course, other suitable rod extensions may be used instead, so long as the rods 6 may be easily and quickly adjusted in length in cases where diiferent spacings occur between the rear wall and curtain rod 1. Of course, in initial permanent installations, the rod 6 need not even be adjustable, therefore extensions 9 may be omitted entirely and the ends of rods 6 may be permanently attached to the rear wall and curtain rod, if desired. Making the telescoping extensions 9 of rubber or plastic also avoids nicking or marring of the rear wall as might occur in using metal parts instead. Clothes hangers 10 of conventional construction, or of special construction, may be slidably supported on the rod to hang clothes, such as coats, dresses and other long clothes, which clothes may be completely concealed by closing the shower curtain.

FIG. 3 shOWs one form of end plug 11 which comprises a curved end portion 7 with an integral portion 12 of reduced diameter having a rear end wall 12a from which emerge spring extensions 15 which are urged radially outwardly by turning of a screw threaded shank 13 by means of a screw driver so as to draw in the collar 14 toward end portion 11 and thus expand, radially outwardly, the spring fingers .15 to tightly hoid the end plug within the end portion of rod 6.

It will be apparent that other conventional or slip-fit types of end plugs may be used instead. Or, if desired, end plugs may be omitted and the ends of the tubular rod 6 may be notched out arcuately to fit against curtain rod 1.

FIG. 5 shows a modification of the invention which is useful for shower bath installations having only one side wall, such as 20, and a rear wall 19. The shower curtain rod comprises two sections 16 and 17 substantially right angles with end fixtures 4 and 18, respectively. In order to brace the intermediate portion of such curtain rod, it is desirable to fasten the forward end portion of the left rod 6 to the section 16 near its jointure with section 17. This may be done by the connecting means shown in FIG. 4, that is, the screw threaded shank 13a will fasten the curtain rod to the forward end of rod 6. The rear end of the left rod 6 is permanently connected to the rear wall 19 by connector 21.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a highly efficient shower curtain rod accessory or fixture which may be easily and quickly mounted on or dismounted from the shower curtain rod in a manner so as not to mar any of the walls of the shower stall, and which may be readily removed at will; furthermore I have provided a shower curtain rod attachment which is suitable for suspending clothes hangers and which is of sufiicient height so as to clear the head of the bather and which will conceal said suspended clothes at all times by drawing the shower curtain; furthermore I have provided a shower curtain rod fixture which requires no fastening to the walls, whatsoever, and which may be merely laid in place and held there solely by gravity and friction, therefore which may be easily dismounted at will; furthermore I have provided a shower curtain rod fixture which is in the form of a knockdown assembly which is easily shipped and which comprises a relatively few number of inexpensive, conventional parts.

While I have illustrated and described several embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claims:

I claim:

1. For use with a shower curtain rod, a clothes hanging rack comprising a pair of parallel end cross braces, a tubular rod connected to the mid-portion of each brace,

the cross braces being bent downwardly adjacent one end, said ends being arcuately shaped and adapted to be supported by a shower rod, and the opposite ends of the braces having tubular extensions adapted to contact the wall of a shower stall at a higher elevation than the shower rod.

2. For use in a shower stall including a bathtub, rear wall and opposing side walls, and a shower curtain rod overhanging the forward longitudinal edge portion of the bathtub, a clothes hanging frame comprising, in combination, a longitudinally extending rod overhanging substantially the central longitudinal axis of said tub, a pair of cross-braces secured at substantially right angles to the end portions of said last mentioned rod, said cross braces being bent upwardly and having arcuately shaped end portions which are adapted to snugly engage end portions of said shower curtain rod, cup shaped elements of piastic material telescopically fitted on the other end portions of said cross brace rods and being adapted to rest against said rear wall solely by friction and gravity of said frame and at an elevation higher than that of said arcuately cut-out ends.

3. The clothes hanging frame recited in claim 2 wherein the forward portions of said cross brace rods are bent downwardly at an acute angle with respect to the remainder of such rods and wherein the major lengths of said cross brace rods are greater than the spacing between said shower curtain rod and rear wall and extend angularly and upwardly in a rearward direction toward said rear wall.

4. For use with a shower curtain rod, a clothes hanging rack comprising a longitudinal rod extending in spaced, parallel relationship to said curtain rod and, together with the remainder of said rack, being at a slightly higher elevation than said rod, 9. pair of end cross braces, intermediate portions of which are secured at substantially right angles to the ends of said longitudinal rod so as to form a substantially H-shaped frame construction, the forward ends of said cross braces being snugly fitted against the end portions of said shower curtain rod and supported thereby, the opposite end portions of said cross brace rods being adapted to be supported by the rear wall of a shower stall, the lengths of said cross braces being greater than the spacing between said shower curtain rod and rear wall so as to rest against the rear wall at points at a higher elevation than said curtain rod, together with tubular extensions telescopically fitted against the rear wall-engaging end portions of said cross brace rods, which extensions are adjustably extensible to vary the overall length of said cross brace rods and the amount of said higher elevation of the end portions of said cross brace rods.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,460,928 Tilden c July 3, 1923 2,452,936 Knobloch Nov. 2, 1948 2,639,816 Fogg May 26, 1953 2,736,437 Boycott Feb. 28, 1956 2,778,030 Goche Jan. 22, 1957 2,780,365 Trainor Feb. 5, 1957 2,804,214 Hammer Aug. 27, 1957 2,868,388 Crites Jan. 13, 1959 2,875,552 Stillman Mar. 3, 1959 2,981,418 Bradley Apr. 25, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 313,977 Switzerland July 14, 1956 

